Fauvism Movement, Artists and Major Works | The Art Story Resources Quotes "The chief function of color should be to serve expression as well as possible. I put down my tones without a preconceived plan. If at first, and perhaps without my having been conscious of it, one tone has particularly seduced or caught me." Henri Matisse, from "Notes of a Painter" "We move towards serenity through the significance of ideas and form ... Details lessen the purity of lines, they harm the emotional intensity, and we choose to reject them. It is a question of learning - and perhaps relearning the 'handwriting' of lines. The aim of painting is not to reflect history, because this can be found in books. We have a higher conception. Through it, the artist expresses his inner vision." Henri Matisse "One can talk about the Impressionist school because they held certain principles. For us there was nothing like that; we merely thought their colours were a bit dull." Kees van Dongen "[these works were] ..nothing whatever to do with painting.. ..

[works more akin to] the barbaric and naive sport of a child who plays with a box of colors he has just got as a Christmas present." Critic Marcel Nicolle commenting on the Salon D’Automne "I try to condense the meaning of this body [of a woman] by drawing its essential lines. The charm will than become less apparent at first glance, but in the long run it will begin to emanate from the new image. This image at the same time will be enriched by a wider meaning, a more comprehensively human one, while the charm, being less apparent, will not be its only characteristic. It will be merely one element in the general conception of the figure." Henri Matisse from Notes of a Painter KEY ARTISTS Like The Art Story on Facebook Beginnings In the opening years of the twentieth century, Post-Impressionist painters working in France such as Van Gogh, Gauguin, Seurat, and Cézanne were considered leaders in avant-garde art. Their collective experiments with paint application, subject matter, expressive line, and pure color were advances that fed the emergence of Fauvism. Symbolism, with its emphasis on the artist's internal vision, was another important influence.

From another source, the European reassessment of African sculpture as art rather than an anthropological curiosity introduced new ideas of form and representation to the European modernists. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Matisse as Fauvist Pioneer Henri Matisse is generally considered the principal founding artist of Fauvism. Like many of his contemporaries, Matisse was greatly influenced by Moreau's teaching that personal expression was among the most important attributes of a great painter. Also of considerable importance to the young Matisse were the techniques and systematic visual language of Pointillism, which had been spearheaded by his fellow countrymen Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, and Henri-Edmond Cross. Although Matisse did not apply Pointillist theory directly to his own work, the application of tiny dots of paint in varying colors to create a harmonious visual tone was something that fascinated Matisse.

His observation of this technique led him to develop "color structure," or large, flat areas of color that established a deliberate, decorative effect and sense of mood. He was also very aware of the Post-Impressionist work of Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, and Edouard Vuillard, whose integration of solid color and design was a departure from the flickering, momentary effect of Impressionist painting. Synthesizing all these ideas, Matisse turned away from using subtle hues of mixed paints and began working with bright color, directly from the tube, as a means of conveying emotion. He had been working outdoors since the mid-1890s, and his travels to Corsica and the south of France in 1898 increased his interest in capturing the effect of strong natural light. A summer spent working alongside Signac and Cross at Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera in 1904 gave him a further opportunity to witness their techniques.

Fellow Fauves: Derain and de Vlaminck During the same years as Matisse's initial experimentation with Post-Impressionist techniques, the two painters André Derain and Maurice de Vlaminck met in 1901 and began sharing a studio in Chatou, a western suburb of Paris. Working closely together, they developed their new mutual interest in bold color and directional brushwork. Matisse met Derain in 1899, and two years later, through Derain, he met de Vlaminck. As an older and more established artist, he supported and encouraged these two kindred spirits, even introducing them to prospective dealers. In 1905 Matisse visited the studio in Chatou, where he was strongly impressed by de Vlaminck's use of pure color. Matisse invited Derain to spend the summer of 1905 with him in Collioure, a port and fishing town located on the southern coast of France. The two men spent this breakthrough summer working and refining their styles and techniques, producing numerous significant paintings during a crucial four-month period of collaboration.

The 1905 Salon d'Automne Later that year, the Salon d'Automne exhibition was held at the Grand Palais in Paris. Matisse, Derain, and de Vlaminck all exhibited works in this show; they were joined by other former students of Moreau, including Henri Manguin and Albert Marquet. The paintings on display were quite distinctive in their use of vivid, saturated color and spontaneous brushwork. Also included in the exhibition was a more traditional-looking Italianate sculptural bust by Marquet, and this figure's proximity to the garishly colored, energetically executed paintings prompted the critic Louis Vauxcelles to describe the scene as "Donatello parmi les fauves" ("Donatello among the wild beasts"). The term "Fauves" was thus coined for these artists; although it was pejorative in its original context, it endured. Concepts and Styles An Expanding Circle Despite initial hostility from critics, many of the Fauves enjoyed commercial success following the Salon d'Automne exhibition of 1905.

Their art was featured at additional exhibits held over the following years, notably at the Salon des Indépendants in 1907, where the main attraction was a large room dubbed "The Fauves' Den." Meanwhile, other artists began to join the central trio of Matisse, Derain, and de Vlaminck. The expanding group of Fauves (all based in France) eventually included Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault (another student of Gustave Moreau), Kees van Dongen, Georges Braque, and Raoul Dufy. These artists traveled together, shared studios, and exchanged ideas freely during the rather brief heyday of Fauvism. The Primacy of Color All the Fauves were intensely preoccupied with color as a means of personal expression. Color and the combination of colors constituted the intrinsic subject, form, and rhythm of their work. A sky could be orange, a tree could be blue, a face could be a combination of seemingly clashing colors; the end result was a wholly independent product of the artist's perception, rather than a faithful depiction of the original physical form.

Additionally, compositional elements were built up through the placement of color, rather than through perspectival systems or draftsmanship. Subject and Style In their shared preoccupation with expression through color and form, these artists were generally less concerned with the novelty of their subject matter. Whereas the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists had depicted scenes of modern, urban life, such as the boulevards, cafes, and concert halls of Paris, the Fauves took more traditional subjects as their starting points. Their subject matter drew from the world around them and included portraits, landscapes, seascapes, and figures in interiors, but the visual impact of the color composition took primacy over any possible narrative or symbolism. Instead, they used their subjects as vehicles for the acts of observation and painting, with their active brushwork and non-naturalistic color as means of leading the viewer into their inner, creative journeys. Later Developments The Fauves' tendency to distort form and color in order to express inner sensations was a strong influence on the Expressionists, whose own artistic movement proved much longer-lived and more cohesive.

The German Expressionists, led by such artists as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, employed a similarly aggressive use of color in their bustling Berlin street scenes and frequently grotesque portraiture. Cézanne and Cubism In a sense, Fauvism's demise can be also attributed to a renewal of interest in Cézanne. A Cézanne exhibition held in Paris in 1907 revived attention in the artist's work, particularly his emphasis on natural order and structure. Georges Braque, for example, began to favor a more restricted color palette, focusing more on subtle gradations of color and scale. This approach led Braque to fill his canvases with a crowded yet carefully ordered abundance of shapes and forms, as in his 1908 work Road near L'Estaque, which is unmistakably a crucial precursor to the artist's development of the Cubist style. African Art In another interesting crossover during this era, the Fauves' and Pablo Picasso's circles were both interested in African art.

Matisse's travelled to Morocco acquired new ideas about color and patern that surfaced in works like The Green Line (Portrait of Madame Matisse) (1905) and Blue Nude (Souvenir of Biskra) (1907), with their radically simplified features and angular limbs inspired by African sculpture. This use of non-Western artistic sources also had a profound influence on the younger Picasso; he began to incorporate African and Iberian masks into his own work, including in a number of self-portraits and in the iconic Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907). By 1908 the Fauves were individually venturing in separate directions: Braque began developing Cubism alongside Picasso, Derain briefly flirted with Cubism as well, and de Vlaminck darkened both his palette and subject matter. Meanwhile, other artists in the group, such as Marquet, Dufy, and Rouault, had begun to work in other styles. Aftermath Ultimately, the Fauves joined together for a short but highly consequential episode, rather than a fully defined school.

Although they never produced a group manifesto outlining their artistic aims, Matisse's "Notes of a Painter," written in 1908, formalized many of their shared concerns and goals, including their commitment to personal expression and individual instinct, their use of color as an independent visual element with an emotional effect, and their rethinking of composition as pictorial surface. Even after the dissolution of the group, nearly as soon as it gained its infamous nickname, Fauvism's ideas and landmark works would continue to influence art for decades to come. Content compiled and written by Justin Wolf Edited and published by The Art Story Contributors . [Internet]. . TheArtStory.org website. Available from: [Accessed ] Fauvism: Characteristics, History, Fauvist Painters see: Colour Pigments . What is Fauvism? In modern art , the term Fauvism refers to a highly fashionable, if short-lived, art movement associated with the Ecole de Paris , which formed around friendships between French artists around the turn of the century.

Famous above all for their bold use of colour , the 'Fauves' received their name at the 1905 Salon d'Automne exhibition in Paris, from the influential French art critic Louis Vauxcelles , who insultingly described their vividly coloured canvases as being the work of wild beasts (in French, fauves), and the name stuck. Curiously, while Matisse (1869-1954) and his French colleagues were dubbed fauvists, neither Wassily Kandinsky nor the 'Russian Matisse' Alexei von Jawlensky - both of whom exhibited alongside the Fauves at the Salon - were given the same treatment. Part of the general Post-Impressionism movement, which tried to go beyond the mere imitation of nature as practised by Impressionists, Fauvism is an early form of expressionism , since its use of colour is non-naturalistic and often garish. The close artistic association between Fauvism and the expressionist movement can be seen in the fact that Neo-Expressionism is known in Germany as Neue Wilden (German for 'new Fauves').

Fauvism was also influenced by Paul Gauguin (1848-1903), whose flat areas of pure colour paved the way for the great expressionist paintings of the early 20th century. For more about the contribution of Fauvism to the expressionist art of the early 20th century, see: History of Expressionism (c.1880-1930). Charing Cross bridge I (1906) Whitney Museum, New York. Woman with Large Hat (1906) Private Collection. Harmony in Red (The Dinner Table) (1908) Hermitage, St Petersburg. Famous Fauvist Painters The most important Fauvist Painters were Henri Matisse and Andre Derain (1880-1954), who had both studied together in 1897, together with Derain's close friend Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958).

Other members of the group - nicknamed fauvettes by Vauxcelles - included the Dutch-born figurative painter Kees van Dongen (1877-1968), the lyrical artist Georges Rouault (1871-1958), the painter of 'waterways' Albert Marquet (1875-1947), the delicate colourist Raoul Dufy (1877-1953), the Cubist-in-waiting Georges Braque (1882-1963), the Le Havre artist Othon Friesz (1879-1949), the Neo-Impressionist Louis Valtat (1869-1952), the versatile Henri-Charles Manguin (1874-1949), the Impressionistic Charles Camoin (1879-1964) another friend of Matisse from Moreau's class at the Ecole des Beaux Arts , and Jean Puy (1876-1960) a participant at the original 1905 Salon d'Automne show.

Characteristics of Fauvism A late example of Post-Impressionist painting , Fauvism was the first real avant-garde art of the 20th century, although it had no agenda, no manifesto, no agreed set of aesthetics : just a wide group of friends with similar ideas about painting . Matisse, the eldest, became the leading figure of the group, not least because of his innovative painting Luxe, Calme et Volupte (1904). Its decorative composition and emancipated employment of colour made it (in the words of Raoul Dufy) "a miracle of imagination produced by drawing and colour." In fact the painting borrows heavily from the Neo-Impressionism of Paul Signac (1863-1935) and his predecessor Georges Seurat (1859-91), but it signalled the beginning of a more unrestrained use of colour.

Matisse and Derain followed this up with a number of works (landscapes and portraits) painted in Collioure, a small town in the South of France, attracting other artists with their vivid palette (brighter and more direct than anything Pointillism had to offer), and their strong belief in the expressive power of pure colour to evoke emotional feeling. History and Influences Naturally, Matisse and his friends were not working in a vacuum. First and foremost, they owed a considerable debt to Monet's Impressionism , whose non-naturalist colour schemes had caused such a scandal in the mid-1870s. Without the pathfinding work of Impressionist painters , it is doubtful that Fauvism could have happened in the way it did. Symbolism , too, was a contributing factor. Many Fauvists had studied at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under the great symbolist teacher Gustave Moreau (1826-1898), whose originality had already ruffled their artistic complacency. Neo-Impressionism was another influence, except that Fauvist painters found it too restrained and replaced its harmony with a bolder, more primitive form of expression.

Thus the dotted motif was replaced with freely applied wide chunky brushstrokes of pure colour, and compositions were relatively simple, sometimes abstract. The work of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) - still largely unknown to the public - was another important influence, especially for the flat areas of pure colour associated with the style of Synthetism , which he had developed at the Pont-Aven school during the late 1880s, and which he had developed further during the 1890s in his art of the South Seas. Gauguin's seminal retrospective at the 1906 Salon d'Automne was hugely influential on the development of Fauvist-style expressionism. Fauvists also borrowed from Gauguin's primitivism , as well as from both African sculpture and Oceanic art : Matisse, Derain and Vlaminck were among the first painters to collect African statuettes and masks. Vincent van Gogh (1853-90) was another influence, especially on Maurice de Vlaminck.

The Dutchman's use of pure colour, allied to a spontaneous rough style of brushwork, soon found its way into Fauvist praxis: an example being Matisse's seminal painting Woman with a Hat (1905), famous for its frenzied brushstrokes and vibrant, unnatural colours. NOTE: To see how non-naturalist painting like Fauvism opened the door for abstract art, see: Realism to Impressionism (1830-1900). The Most Fashionable Style of Painting At its famous launch in the Salon d'Automne of 1905, the new style caused shock and incredulity among the art critics and public, but collectors and dealers were much more enthusiastic, and Fauvist paintings rapidly became the most fashionable and desirable works on the market.

In addition to French dealers like Ambroise Vollard (1866-1939) and Berthe Weill, the new style attracted large foreign buyers including the Russians Ivan Morozov (1871-1921) and Sergei Shchukin (1854-1936): one reason why there are so many Fauvist works in the Hermitage Gallery in Russia. By 1906, Fauvism was seen as the ultimate refinement in French painting , and another reminder that Paris remained the undisputed centre of world art. Derain produced a set of London landscapes - featuring the bridges and docks of the River Thames - after similar works by Claude Monet . Except that, while Monet's London paintings had been all about light and atmosphere, Derain's were an unrestrained celebration of colour. Other Fauves, like Kees van Dongen and Albert Marquet began producing some of their best work, while Vlaminck painted his greatest landscapes.

But by the end of the year, the real novelty and excitement of the movement was over, even though the Fauvist style influenced a number of visiting artists from Belgium, Holland, Poland and Russia, and had a significant impact on the nascent expressionist movement, which was beginning to emerge in Germany. By 1907, many Fauvists had moved on to explore other styles. Van Dongen joined the expressionist group Die Brucke in Dresden; Derain drew closer to Picasso before favouring a more classical style of art; Vlaminck eventually exchanged his Fauvist palette for a more muted style of realist expressionism. Matisse remained fascinated by colour for the remainder of his life, although he dabbled with several different styles, including symbolism and abstract art , before producing his immortal series of Blue Nudes at the advanced age of 83. As the foremost colourist in modern art, he continues to be an inspiration for many twentieth century artists. Legacy of Fauvism Despite being superceded by Cubism and, arguably, overshadowed by expressionism, Fauvism was the most radical trend in art for more than 30 years.

And though comparatively short-lived, it had a massive affect on the perceived value and role of colour in painting. In particular it resonated strongly with exponents of German Expressionism : see, for instance, works like Portrait of Gerda (1914) by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner (1880-1938), and the 'Heads' series by Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941). Fauvist paintings were exhibited alongside German expressionist works at the influential Sturm Gallery in Berlin, founded by Herwarth Walden (1879-1941). It also exerted a significant influence on French expressionist painters from the Paris School, inspiring contemporary movements such as Orphism (1910-13) and Rayonism (1912-14).

Fauvism was introduced to Scotland by the Scottish Colourists , a group of four painters - Samuel John Peploe (1871-1935), Francis Campbell Boileau Cadell (1883-1937), John Duncan Fergusson (1874-1961), and George Leslie Hunter (1877-1931) - who were strongly influenced by Matisse and other Fauves while painting in France before the First World War. Famous Fauvist Paintings Here is a short selected list of expressionist paintings by the most famous 20th century painters associated with the group: Henri Matisse (1869-1954) Luxe, Calme et Volupte (1904) Musee d'Orsay. Landscape at Collioure (1905) Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Roofs of Collioure (1905) oil on canvas, Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Russia. Open Window, Collioure (1905) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC.

Woman with a Hat (1905) San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Le Bonheur de Vivre (1905-6) Barnes Foundation, Merion, Pennsylvania. The Gypsy (1906) Musee de l'Annonciade, St Tropez. Blue Nude (1907) Baltimore Museum of Art. Harmony in Red (The Dinner Table) (1908), Hermitage, St Petersburg. Portrait of Mme Matisse (1913) Hermitage, St Petersburg. Albert Marquet (1875-1947) Andre Rouveyre (1904) Musee d'Orsay, Paris. July 14, Le Havre (1906) Musee Albert Andre, Bagnols-sur-Ceze. Le Pont Neuf (1906) National Gallery of Art, Washington DC. View of the Seine (1906) Museum of New Western Art, Moscow. Winter on the Seine (1910) National Gallery, Oslo.

Maurice de Vlaminck (1876-1958) The White House (1905-6) Private Collection. Champs de Ble and Restaurant at Bougival (1905-6) Musee d'Orsay, Paris. The Blue House (1906) Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Landscape with Red Trees (1906) Musee National d'Art Moderne, Paris. The Wheat Field (Champs de Ble) (1906) Milwaukee Art Museum. Tugboat at Chatou (1906) Private Collection. The River Seine at Chatou (1906) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. The Bridge at Chatou (1906) Musee de l'Annonciade, St Tropez. Kees van Dongen (1877-1968) Woman with Large Hat (1906) Private Collection. Woman in a Black Hat (1908) Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. Le Coquelicot (The Corn Poppy) (1919) Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, Albi.

Charles Camoin (1879-1964) La Petite Lina (1907) Le Musee Cantini, Marseille. Othon Friesz (1879-1949) The Seine at Paris, Pont de Grenelle (1901) Glasgow Museums. Portrait of Fernand Fleuret (1907) National Museum of Modern Art, Paris. Andre Derain (1880-1954) The Harbour of Collioure (1905) Private Collection. Portrait of Matisse (1905) Tate Modern, London. The Pool Of London (1906) Tate Modern, London. Charing Cross Bridge (1906) National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Bridge over the Thames (1906) Musee de l'Annonciade, St Tropez. Georges Braque (1882-1963) L'Estaque (1906) National Museum of Modern Art, Paris.

Collections Fauvist paintings can be seen in many of the world's best art museums , notably: the Musee d'Orsay, Paris; the National Museum of Modern Art, Paris; the Tate Gallery, London; Hermitage Gallery, St Petersburg; Minneapolis Institute of Arts; and the Museum of Modern Art, New York.  For other colourist movements and periods, see: History of Art .  For a list of expressionist styles, see Modern Art Movements .  For more about colour theory and practice in painting, see: Homepage . ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ART HISTORY Fauvism About Watch and Favorite Watch Watching this resources will notify you when proposed changes or new versions are created so you can keep track of improvements that have been made. Favorite Favoriting this resource allows you to save it in the “My Resources” tab of your account. There, you can easily access this resource later when you’re ready to customize it or assign it to your students. Fauvism The Fauves were a group of early 20th century Modern artists based in Paris whose works challenged Impressionist values.

Learning Objective Contrast the characteristics of Fauvism, as found in the work of Matisse and Derain, from those of its predecessor Impressionism Key Points The Fauvist movement, led by Henri Matisse and Andre Derain, officially lasted for only four years: 1904–1908. Vivid color, simplification, abstraction, and unusual brush strokes are hallmarks of the Fauvist style . Fauvist influences and references include Van Gogh's Post- Impressionism and the Neo-Impressionist technique of Pointillism . Gustave Moreau, a controversial professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, mentored several of the Fauves, including Matisse, and profoundly influenced their work. Terms Register for FREE to remove ads and unlock more features! Learn more Full Text Fauvism is the style of les Fauves (French for "the wild beasts"), a short-lived and loose group of early 20th century Modern artists whose works emphasized painterly qualities and strong color over the representational or realistic values retained by Impressionism.

While Fauvism as a style began around 1900 and continued beyond 1910, the movement as such lasted only a few years, 1904–1908, and had three exhibitions. The leaders of the movement were Henri Matisse and André Derain. The vibrant, surprising use of color in this work is characteristic of the Fauvist style. Apart from Matisse and Derain, other artists included Albert Marquet, Charles Camoin, Louis Valtat, the Belgian painter Henri Evenepoel, Maurice Marinot, Jean Puy, Maurice de Vlaminck, Henri Manguin, Raoul Dufy, Othon Friesz, Georges Rouault, the Dutch painter Kees van Dongen, the Swiss painter Alice Bailly, and Georges Braque (subsequently Picasso's partner in Cubism). The paintings of the Fauves were characterized by seemingly wild brush work and strident colors, while their subject matter had a high degree of simplification and abstraction.

Fauvism can be classified as an extreme development of Van Gogh's Post-Impressionism fused with the pointillism of Seurat and other Neo-Impressionist painters, in particular Paul Signac. Other key influences were Paul Cézanne and Paul Gauguin, whose employment of areas of saturated color—notably in paintings from Tahiti—strongly influenced Derain's work. Gustave Moreau, a controversial professor at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris and a Symbolist painter, was the movement's inspirational teacher. Moreau taught Matisse, Marquet, Manguin, Rouault, and Camoin during the 1890s, and was viewed by critics as the group's philosophical leader until Matisse was recognized as such in 1904. Moreau's broad-mindedness, originality, and affirmation of the expressive potency of pure color was inspirational for his students. Derain and Matisse worked together through the summer of 1905 in the Mediterranean village of Collioure, and later that year displayed their highly innovative paintings at the Salon d'Automne.

The vivid, unnatural colors led the critic Louis Vauxcelles to derisively dub their works as les Fauves, or "the wild beasts," which the artists then appropriated as the title for their movement. The painting that was singled out for special condemnation, Matisse's Woman with a Hat, was subsequently bought by the major patrons of the avant-garde scene in Paris, Gertrude and Leo Stein. Fauvism | Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art Works of Art (9) Essay Fauvism was the first of the avant-garde movements that flourished in France in the early years of the twentieth century. The Fauve painters were the first to break with Impressionism as well as with older, traditional methods of perception. Their spontaneous, often subjective response to nature was expressed in bold, undisguised brushstrokes and high-keyed, vibrant colors directly from the tube.

Henri Matisse (French, 1869–1954) and André Derain (French, 1880–1954) introduced unnaturalistic color and vivid brushstrokes into their paintings in the summer of 1905, working together in the small fishing port of Collioure on the Mediterranean coast ( 1975.1.194 ; 1982.179.29 ). When their pictures were exhibited later that year at the Salon d’Automne in Paris (Matisse, The Woman with a Hat), they inspired the witty critic Louis Vauxcelles to call them fauves (“wild beasts”) in his review for the magazine Gil Blas. This term was later applied to the artists themselves. The Fauves were a loosely shaped group of artists sharing a similar approach to nature, but they had no definitive program. Their leader was Matisse, who had arrived at the Fauve style after earlier experimenting with the various Post-Impressionist styles of Van Gogh , Gauguin , and Cézanne , and the Neo-Impressionism of Seurat, Cross, and Signac.

These influences inspired him to reject traditional three-dimensional space and seek instead a new picture space defined by the movement of color planes ( 1999.363.38 ; The Young Sailor I; 1999.363.41 ). Another major Fauve was Maurice de Vlaminck (French, 1876–1958), who might be called a “natural” Fauve because his use of highly intense color corresponded to his own exuberant nature. Vlaminck took the final step toward embracing the Fauve style ( 1999.363.84 ; 1999.363.83 ) after seeing the second large retrospective exhibition of Van Gogh’s work at the Salon des Indépendants in the spring of 1905, and the Fauve paintings produced by Matisse and Derain in Collioure. As an artist, Derain occupied a place midway between the impetuous Vlaminck and the more controlled Matisse.

He had worked with Vlaminck in Chatou, near Paris, intermittently from 1900 on (“School of Chatou”), and spent the summer of 1905 with Matisse in Collioure. In 1906–7, he also painted some twenty-nine scenes of London in a more restrained palette ( 1999.363.18 ). Other important Fauvists were Kees van Dongen, Charles Camoin, Henri-Charles Manguin, Othon Friesz, Jean Puy, Louis Valtat, and Georges Rouault. These were joined in 1906 by Georges Braque and Raoul Dufy. For most of these artists, Fauvism was a transitional, learning stage. By 1908, a revived interest in Paul Cézanne’s vision of the order and structure of nature had led many of them to reject the turbulent emotionalism of Fauvism in favor of the logic of Cubism. Braque became the cofounder with Picasso of Cubism . Derain, after a brief flirtation with Cubism, became a widely popular painter in a somewhat neoclassical manner.

Matisse alone pursued the course he had pioneered, achieving a sophisticated balance between his own emotions and the world he painted ( 1984.433.16 ). The Fauvist movement has been compared to German Expressionism, both projecting brilliant colors and spontaneous brushwork, and indebted to the same late nineteenth-century sources, especially Van Gogh. The French were more concerned with the formal aspects of pictorial organization, while the German Expressionists were more emotionally involved in their subjects. Sabine Rewald Department of Modern and Contemporary Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art October 2004 Citation Rewald, Sabine. “Fauvism.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. (October 2004) Further Reading Elderfield, John. The "Wild Beasts": Fauvism and Its Affinities. Exhibition catalogue. New York: Museum of Modern Art, 1976. Leymarie, Jean. Fauves and Fauvism. Rev. ed. New York: Rizzoli, 1987.

Additional Essays by Sabine Rewald Rewald, Sabine. “ Cubism .” (October 2004) Rewald, Sabine. “ Paul Klee (1879–1940) .” (October 2004) Related Fauvism, Art History & Styles of Art - Art.com Wiki Albert Marquet (Top Image: “ L’Estaque ” by Andre Derain) Fauvism is widely regarded as the first significant avant-garde movement in twentieth-century European art. The works of the Fauves are characterized by distorted figures and landscapes composed of unnaturally bold, vivid color schemes, and many of the pieces from this period are classified as abstract . Fauvism At the Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1905, the art critic Louis Vauxcelles, upon viewing the brightly colored and somewhat abstract works of artists Albert Marquest, Andre Derain, and Henri Matisse , dubbed the group of artists as “wild beasts,” or “fauves” in French. Vauxcelles attempt to disparage the works of these artists unwittingly gave a name to the art movement that would come to be known as Fauvism.

The Fauves were the first to break away from Impressionism , and Fauvist art was the first to steer away from traditional ideas of perception with works that were filled with emotion rendered by color, although sometimes lacking in logic. A cornerstone of the art movement is the conveyance of a mood within the work as opposed to just providing a visual interpretation for the viewer. The leader of the movement was French artist Henri Matisse , who, along with Andrew Derain, began painting in the Fauvist style in mid-1905, with the works from this period featuring bold brushstrokes with vibrant, intense, unadulterated colors. The pair worked from a quaint fishing port in the Mediterranean and exhibited their work that autumn in Paris, where their movement’s famous moniker was born. Many artists who were notable participants in the Fauvist movement transitioned into other movements. For example, Georges Braque transitioned away from Fauvists and co-founded Cubism alongside Pablo Picasso . One constant Fauve, however, was Matisse, who would stay the course and produce a large bulk of his artwork in the Fauvist style.

Although the movement flourished only briefly, it had a big impact on modern art, especially in its interpretation and use of color to show emotion. Contents Portrait of Madame Matisse by Henri Matisse, 1906 Promenade Among the Olive Trees by Henri Matisse, 1905 The River Seine at Chatou by Maurice de Vlaminck, 1906 Woman with Large Hat by Kees van Dongen, 1906 Charing Cross Bridge, London by Andre Derain, 1906 Fun Facts German Expressionism is often compared to Fauvism, since both use nonsensical brushwork and bright colors. Notable Fauvist Henri Matisse found his love for art while recuperating from an illness at age twenty-one. The appearance of Fauvist paintings at the Paris Salon d’Automne in 1905 is often used to mark the beginning of the Modern art movement . Related Articles Fauvism | French painting | Britannica.com French painting Fauvism, style of painting that flourished in France around the turn of the 20th century.

Fauve artists used pure, brilliant colour aggressively applied straight from the paint tubes to create a sense of an explosion on the canvas. Landscape with Red Trees, Fauve painting by Maurice de Vlaminck, oil … Courtesy of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris The Fauves painted directly from nature, as the Impressionists had before them, but Fauvist works were invested with a strong expressive reaction to the subjects portrayed. First formally exhibited in Paris in 1905, Fauvist paintings shocked visitors to the annual Salon d’Automne ; one of these visitors was the critic Louis Vauxcelles , who, because of the violence of their works, dubbed the painters fauves (“wild beasts”). The leader of the group was Henri Matisse , who had arrived at the Fauve style after experimenting with the various Post-Impressionist approaches of Paul Gauguin , Vincent van Gogh , and Georges Seurat . Matisse’s studies led him to reject traditional renderings of three-dimensional space and to seek instead a new picture space defined by movement of colour.

He exhibited his famous Woman with the Hat (1905) at the 1905 exhibition. In this painting, brisk strokes of colour—blues, greens, and reds—form an energetic, expressive view of the woman. The crude paint application, which left areas of raw canvas exposed, was appalling to viewers at the time. The other major Fauvists were André Derain , who had attended school with Matisse in 1898–99, and Maurice de Vlaminck , who was Derain’s friend. They shared Matisse’s interest in the expressive function of colour in painting, and they first exhibited together in 1905. Derain’s Fauvist paintings translate every tone of a landscape into pure colour, which he applied with short, forceful brushstrokes. The agitated swirls of intense colour in Vlaminck’s works are indebted to the expressive power of van Gogh. Similar Topics fauvism - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) Fauvism was an art movement in the early 1900s that included Henri Matisse and several other famous French painters.

The most prominent feature of the movement was its experimentation with the expressive function of color. Like the impressionist artists who had preceded them, the fauvists painted subjects from the natural landscape-but the vibrant colors the fauvists used in their paintings charged the subject matter with a sense of the unnatural. First shown as a group in 1905, fauvist paintings shocked the visitors who attended the exhibit at the Salon d’Automne in Paris. The name for the movement, fauves, meaning "wild animals," was coined by the art critic Louis Vauxcelles. As a group, the artists within the new movement were referred to as les fauves. The movement lasted from about 1905 to 1907. Article History

Question: The painters Henri Matisse and Andre Derain were leaders of which early 20th century art movement?
Answer: Fauvism